“This decision comes as we assess how to best serve the Los Angeles community with recent economic challenges and shifts in funding for the organization,” the LA Phil said in a statement to Boyle Heights Beat on Thursday. - Boyle Heights Beat
“In addition to a $2.3 million surplus on its (fiscal year 2025) operating budget of $34.6 million, the PSO saw its highest annual ticket sales since the COVID-19 pandemic. Total ticket sales reached $9.48 million, a 17% increase over last fiscal year.” - Pittsburgh Business Times (WPXI)
“‘I’ve always tried to put a big moment in a song, but nothing, of course, worked as good as that one,' David Foster, who produced and arranged the song for Ms. Houston, said.” - The New York Times
Dick Gaughan had a deep influence on Rufus Wainwright, Billy Bragg, and Richard Hawley. But the label Celtic Music has kept his work under wraps for years - decades, really. And he’s not alone; Celtic Music has a stranglehold over many folk musicians’ oeuvres. - The Guardian (UK)
A security guard (now suspended from his job) was not at his post. “That allowed the two protesters to walk on a narrow ledge along the wall of the left side of the orchestra pit and make their way on to the stage.” - The New York Times
“A generation of gen Z and millennial artists are reckoning with what it meant to come of age through recession, austerity and the tail end of the Troubles. The music pulsates with the sense of promises made and withdrawn.” - The Guardian (UK)
Peter Wollny, now director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, discovered manuscripts of the two works in Brussels back in 1992. He was intrigued by the music and had a hunch it was Bach's, but it took Wollny 33 years to gather the evidence he needed to be sure. - The New York Times
“(Jensen) Huang and his wife, Lori … are making a previously unreported donation of $5 million a year for multiple years to San Francisco Opera. This year’s gift went toward underwriting The Monkey King; future gifts will help sponsor mainstage operas, young artist training, community programming, and digital media.” - The San Francisco Standard
The deals underline how AI is shaking up the music industry. AI-generated music has been flooding streaming services amid the rise of song generators that instantly spit out new tunes based on prompts typed in by users without any musical knowledge. - APNews
“The Venezuelan-born conductor — who became a naturalized US. citizen last year on the stage of the symphony’s Jacobs Music Center — began his tenure here with the orchestra in late 2019.” His contract term now extends through the 2028-29 season, with the new title of Music and Artistic Director. - The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
The Galilee Chamber Orchestra, currently touring the US, is based in Nazareth (considered the cultural capital for Israel’s native Palestinians, about 20% of the country’s total population). It was formed 13 years ago as the first fully professional orchestra with equal numbers of Jewish and Arab musicians. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
For each of this weekend’s three performances of Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast, set to Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film), Fort Worth Opera has 100 tickets available for $1 or whatever price the purchaser names. - NBC 5 (Dallas-Fort Worth)
Jenny Mollica will step down from her current role in summer 2026 to become CEO of London music and arts venue Roundhouse. Mollica will succeed Marcus Davey CBE who steps down after 27 years at the helm of the Camden venue, while the process to appoint ENO’s next CEO is now underway. - Classical Music UK
Most notably, composer Gabriela Ortiz, who won three Grammys last time, could do it again, as she’s a triple nominee this year. Overall, in fact, the list of nominees is (as has been the case for a number of years now) largely dominated by contemporary music, most of it American. - The Washington Post (MSN)
